Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Stupid Angry so Mad Argh!

ok, for once, this entry is not about me.
Now, we all know I have alot of free time at work... and generally I try to use this time to keep me from going insane.
I have been researching and discovering the absoloute totalitarian bull-shit attitude of man, specifically, western society towards the fellow creatures that walk this earth and in truth, I am ashamed to be human.
Now, without going into the numerous practices that we humans inflict on the various creatures and critters of the world because we can, I think it's really important to note that I am not a "hippy" and I don't often get involved in causes I see as being futile, so please read on.

I do think the time has come for each and every person to take control of the situation and put an end to the abominable treatment of our "meat". I believe it's our responsibility to do so.

Firstly, I would like to argue that we cannot all be vegetarians and I am not offering this as a soloution. It's just not ever going to happen. I do agree that we eat far too much meat as a society but I am in no way advocating the abolition of meat on our menues.

Having said that, my cause is about how we treat the animals while they are alive. If you were to be given figures of just how many animals we breed and kill all for the purposes of food, you would cringe. I wonder if any other society in the history of the world and universe has had such blatant disregard for life?

If you are at all interested in the topic, I suggest you check out this website. It's nothing over the top, nothing excessively gory, it's just fact and it's something everyone should see for themselves. You have a responsibility to be accountable here.

I also refer to this article regarding Australia resuming live animal trade with Kuwait. Anyone who has not been living under a rock in Australia knows what happend to more than 50,000 sheep on route to Saudi Arabia onboard the Cormo Express. People were outraged. Why? because it was all over the news, they couldn't avoid it, or ignore it, or pretend it wasn't happening. I see this to be the foremost issue regarding meat production- People just don't want to know, they want to happily eat their roast and not think about it.

My most horrific experience in my research of meat production has been the issue of intensive farming, prodominantly pigs. I am revolted by the concept and absoloutly dumbfounded that it occurs. Almost all pork products you buy are intensively farmed. These animals are kept in cages so small they cannot move, cannot see daylight or fresh air or feel the soil and most importantly, they cannot be allowed to live as pigs.
For those of you who think pigs are just animals, your right. But they can think and feel and have been proven to be extremely intelligent, some even suggest they surpass dogs in intellect and ability to feel emotion.

I argue that even if they are just dumb pigs, they deserve to live as dumb pigs and not have a life of torture and abuse in the quest for cheaper meat.

What I propose are small changes for individuals.
Do not buy pork unless it has been certified organic.
Do not buy chicken unless it's marked as free-range (available at supermarkets)
Do not buy battery hen eggs (supermarkets)
Do not turn away from this issue. We are the only people who are able to change this.

We are the consumers.

We hold the power.

I know I can't change the world, but I can get fucking angry and try.
I am so so sad.

2 Comments:

Blogger Hammy Goonan said...

Hello Jo, I love that you're mad!!

Do a couple of things. Read Fast Food Nation. Read Peter Singer's Animal Liberation. Read my blog:

http://goonanism.blogspot.com/2004/06/firstly-thanks-for-comment-alice.html

http://goonanism.blogspot.com/2004/06/so-i-saw-super-size-me-last-night.html

http://goonanism.blogspot.com/2004/06/well-thank-you-all-for-your-kind.html

http://goonanism.blogspot.com/2004/06/roland-screw-you-this-is-my-blog-and-i.html

(sorry, can't be bother linking them all)

4:52 PM  
Blogger Kara Melissa said...

Hi Jo, I found your blog linked from Hammy's who is friends of Ali who is my boyfriend...I am responding to this entry b/c I agree with you as well as have some background on the situation. I have been a vegetarian my entire life and I was a vegan for a year and a half. I lived in Asia for 3+ years and let me tell you, I have seen some harsh animal treatment and discusting things!

I wanted to respond to FREE RANGE: free range does not necessarily mean that the chickens run freely in a field and peck at corn thrown to them, it means that they are in a larger covered area, rather than cages. There are small square opening with a perch beneath them so the chickens can potentially stand on them and get outside. The issue is that usually the cocks take over the perch areas, not allowing any other chickens to get out and any chickens that do get out are stuck outside and die b/c of weather conditions.

I have some other sites you may be interested in, although they won't make you feel any better...but I can email them to you if you'd like or send another comment after I have gathered them from my computer at home.

It's good to see someone getting angry, but as a life long animal rights activist, it can get tiring. Not much changes b/c people certainly do like to eat their meat and they don't really care how it gets to their plate.

On another note, I enjoy reading your blog. Try yoga, it might help with the stress and take your mind elsewhere. I should do it more often myself.

Keep on keepin' on.

8:29 PM  

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